Archive 1997-2016
Even before Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976, it never used the electric chair as a form of capital punishment. And yet, at least 20 people have died in this country in the last four years when agents of the state passed electrical current through their bodies.
It’s budget season in the city of Ottawa again. But if you haven’t been paying attention, you can be forgiven. With three levels of government, the numbers game can easily become overwhelming. A constant barrage of figures bombards the electorate with every throne speech, election campaign and budget process.
Consider this: the city passes a bylaw that prohibits eating ice cream on a Sunday on Bank Street. Ridiculous, you say – even bizarre. Well, yes. But in its own way no more so than a new bylaw that will ban smoking at city bus stops to create a “smoke-free transit." – an extension of the smoke-free city/province campaign.
Last year’s closure of the Loeb grocery store on Booth Street left a large number of residents in the Dalhousie neighbourhood without food security, an area that was already considered sparsely served.